Owen's Place
by HouseAddict16
Summary: Cristina gets curious about where Owen lives, after asking him, she has a huge surprise in store.


"Where does he live?" Meredith and Cristina were hanging out in Derek's trailer; their new spot to spend time together alone, so Derek could get some real sleep when they needed late night gossip sessions.  
"At my place mostly." Cristina was busy skimming a magazine and filling her spoon with ice cream.  
"But where does he live when he's not at your place? He doesn't stay over every night. Like when you two were 'broken up' where did he live?"

Cristina stopped and set the magazine down. "Meredith."

"What?"  
"He's a brooding red head when we aren't together, I'm not about to ask him that. It took him months before he told his own mother that he was home from Iraq, it will probably take him even longer to tell me where his whatever is and even longer to show it to me."  
"Maybe you should ask him."

"Derek didn't tell you about his wife, she showed up at the hospital unexpected. Maybe you should of asked him if he was married before you let him in."  
"Hey, that was like forever ago. And we're talking about you here."  
"Not anymore. Let's talk about someone else."

Cristina was still curious after their discussion. It buzzed in her head like a case she couldn't solve or a surgery that came out with unforeseen complications. She spent her free time trying to retrace the path he took when he left the hospital and didn't go to her apartment. She couldn't believe that it hadn't come up before, that they hadn't discussed where he kept his things before they had a place in her apartment.

"Where did you keep your stuff when you were in Iraq?" Cristina asked one night after dinner. They had finished putting everything away and Owen was settling down to read while Cristina was going to unwind with a surgical video. Her question caught Owen off guard. She could see him taken aback but trying not be defensive.  
"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that you were away, and all the stuff you needed was in you pack. And then you came home, and you had a truck and clothes and a life you couldn't take with you and I was just curious as to where it was. This life you left here."  
"It was at Beth's house. Well, at one point it was our house. But then, after the ambush and my e-mail, she moved all my stuff to my mom's garage and that's where I found everything when I got back."  
Cristina was pretty convinced until she noticed a hole in his story.  
"But you said you didn't tell your mom you were home until like months later. So where did you get your truck, and your stuff?"  
Owen caught on.

"Are you asking me where I live when I don't live here?"  
"Well, yeah."

Owen laughed a little.  
"All you had to do was ask. I'll show you tomorrow after work."  
"Wait, you're not going to tell me now?"  
"Nope." He smiled and turned back to his book.

The next day Cristina couldn't help but tell Meredith that she actually asked him about his place. She filled her in on how the interrogation went.  
"So he's showing you tonight?"  
"Yeah."  
"And you have no clue where he lives?"  
"No."  
"How exciting." Meredith had a huge smirk on her face, she was excited for Cristina. She remembered what it was like to get to know Derek, to see his trailer for the first time, to hear about him liking The Clash and coffee ice cream and how she couldn't believe that she had fallen in love without knowing those pieces of him. She knew what it was like to have a life with a guy and not realize that important pieces of him were missing, just like she hid important pieces of herself from him. This exciting learning experience only made their relationship stronger, when done correctly, and Meredith hoped for only the best for her best friend.

"I can't wait to hear about it." she said to Cristina.  
"Yeah, me neither." Cristina wasn't as enthusiastic as Meredith. She was nervous about what she might find out about him. Here she loved him, or at least she thought she did, and yet she didn't know where he lived, or how he kept his things. Burke's apartment was sterile and neat and she felt like she had to leave the real her a hidden artifact while she made this life with him. While she didn't want to hide pieces or let Owen take pieces, she also didn't want him to have to, and the surprises that may be in her near future could make or break the relationship.  
"I just hope he doesn't have a wife hiding somewhere."

"We both know the only wife that was in his future was Beth. And she's gone." Meredith said.

"Thank god. Her sweaters were hideous. And calling her father 'Daddy' ugh. I'm glad Owen changed after Iraq. Seriously, what was his thinking?"  
"Seriously." Meredith laughed.

Owen was waiting for her on a bench outside when she emerged from the hospital. He was dressed in his street clothes, as was she. It still made Cristina smirk when she saw their casual clothing, it was as if they were shopping for each other long before they met. Their styles were similar but still had individual flair. Owen's look only accented his features and she liked to think her's did the same.  
"I was beginning to think you were planning to avoid me tonight." He said as he took her hand and led her to his truck.  
"I wasn't going to avoid you. I wanted to look good."  
"To look good for my empty house?"  
"You have a house?"  
"You'll see."

He helped her into the cab and closed the door as she fastened her seat belt. He started the truck and they pulled out of the parking lot with ease. Cristina made sure to note the general direction they were headed in, but tried not to focus on it too much, for with each turn and twist she was trying to remember what was in that area, what the house's looked like, how much money the people who lived there had.  
"Hey, just enjoy the ride." He said as he reached for her hand again. "It will be fine, I promise."

"Well, I can tell we aren't going to your mom's house again."  
He smirked. "No, my place is a bit better. At least I like to think so."

Cristina tried to remain un-observant and tried to enjoy the ride. She focused on him driving. He drove with an intense focus on the road, yet he was more relaxed than she had ever seen him. She thought that it might have something to do with Iraq and riding around in large military vehicles. He would have to be so observant then to watch out for enemy gunfire and attack that here at home, he knew that he was safe, so he could focus on the road and relax at the same time.

They had driven into the quiet outskirts of town, similar to where Meredith lived and pretty close to her place. The streets were quieter and dimly lit giving the suburb appearance and feel to the nice homely street. Owen released Cristina's hand and placed both hands on the wheel as he put on his turn signal and pulled into a driveway. The house was set back from the street, leaving a decent sized driveway and also some privacy to the home. The headlights shown on a large white house with an attached garage. He reached up and hit the garage door opener on the sun visor, a button Cristina never seemed to notice.

The garage was a two car with an older door painted white to match the rest of the building. Owen chose the space closest to the door and pulled in. The headlights shown on a refrigerator directly ahead. With the truck inside he killed the engine and hit the garage door button again to close the door. Owen got out quickly and helped Cristina out as well. Careful not to hit the door on the side of the garage Cristina leaped out and closed the door.  
"We can start in the garage." He said as he took her hand once more and led her into the open space within the garage. The back wall also had older windows and was lined with a workspace, which held various tools and instruments used for working in a garage. The empty space in which another car would usually be kept was car-less and a catch-all for various things that belonged in the garage such as an old motorcycle, a bicycle, and a few lawn chairs.

Cristina started to shiver a bit in the cold, Owen took notice and led her to the door. "Let's move inside shall we?" They quickly traversed the space between the garage and the house, a small grassy patch that held a clothes line between the house and the garage. He led her up the stairs of the front porch which was supported by large pillars and into the front door. Once they were inside she noticed the quiet and stillness the house encased. The entrance way had a wooden floor that stretched into the rest of the house and was painted a dark color, she couldn't tell the exact color since they were still bathed in the darkness. Owen flipped several switches and lit part of the bottom floor. He took her coat and hung it in the hall closet which was adjacent to the front door. She slipped off her shoes as he was hanging his own coat.

"What do you think so far?" Owen asked as she continued into the house.  
"It's big." She was standing between the kitchen and the living room, the space was very open but there was good separation due to an island and a bar in the kitchen space. She wandered into the living room side while Owen opened a bottle of wine and lit the kitchen.

The living room was a milk chocolate color with white trim that continued throughout the bottom floor. He had dark furniture and a flat screen television mounted on the far wall, near the entrance to the upstairs. The back of a couch served as a barrier between the walkway and the kitchen, making the floor seem open and closed.

"White or red?" Owen asked from his place in the kitchen. Cristina sat down at the bar. "Red." She sat in a high bar chair and noticed that the kitchen was a medium blue color, with white cabinets and trim. His island and bar had stone counter tops and she could see that he really enjoyed cooking in this kitchen.

"Did you design this all yourself?" she asked as she sipped from her glass.

"Yeah. When I bought it, it was really run down." he said from behind the counter. "So it was sort of my project for when I got back."  
"Well, it's beautiful." She said with a sparkle in her eye. "I could really get used to this place."  
"You don't know how glad that makes me." he said. "You should see the view from these bay windows." he gestured towards the living room.  
"I'd love to sit here and drink wine with you all night, but I think I'd like to see the rest of the house first."

Owen led her down the hall and up the stairs. The wood floors continued up the stairs and onto the second floor. The stair way walls were a gray color, a neutral transition from the living room and kitchen. Upstairs contained three bedrooms including the master bedroom, two bathrooms and a study or office.  
"This is our bedroom." He said as he opened the door and switched on the light. It was a warm red color, inviting, not the red of surgery. It was similar to the color Cristina had painted Burke's apartment, but it seemed more inviting than that. Perhaps it was because this color and the room were more about the future than covering up the past. He had a large king size bed in the middle and another smaller television on the dresser across from it. The bathroom was off opposite the door and the closets, his and hers, were adjacent to the door. It was a room Cristina immediately saw herself curling up in after a long day at work.  
"So?" Owen asked as he sat on the bed and continued to drink his wine.  
"Wow." she sat down and continued to marvel at his handiwork.  
"I'm not sure about all the white trim but I think it is balanced well by the colors I added in each room."  
"It's large but so... warm."  
"Yeah, but it's still just a house." he drank again. "Do you think we could make it a home?"  
"Are you trying to get me drunk, then ask me to move in with you?" she said light heartedly.  
"Maybe." he snaked around her and kissed her neck.  
"You just told me about this place today."

"So?" he continued to kiss her.

"I... I think I should call it a night. I've got a solo surgery tomorrow."

"Cristina?" She got up from the bed. "Was, was it something I said?"  
"I just need to think about it."  
"Okay." He said understandingly.

Cristina didn't sleep well that night. She was embarrassed that she didn't feel comfortable saying yes immediately to his invitation to basically move in with him. She wanted to say yes, she wanted him to be her guy forever. But she couldn't help thinking back to Burke and getting 'keyed' and being expected to be a person she wasn't just to be with him.

"Cristina, he's not like that. Owen isn't Burke. Not at all, not one bit." Meredith was the voice of reason in the trailer again.

"It's an amazing house, and he renovated it all by himself, I have no clue how he did it because he was working for days at a time when he got back from Iraq, but it's gorgeous. And it's like three minutes from your house."  
"You two practically live together already. He knows you. He's lived in your room and you, your first date was him standing in your shower, in his suit, telling you his most memorable surgery."  
"Yeah yeah, we're both damaged. I get it."  
"What I'm saying is you know each other on a level that Burke never got to. Your relationship was rough from the beginning and he knows that. He doesn't expect you to change for him. He wants you, the you that told off Dr. dinosaur and, and he promised you forty years. He's not going to run off after a little mess in the bedroom or whatever."  
"I know that."  
"If you weren't afraid, then I'd be worried. Just don't hide anything from him. You already learned that that doesn't work."

"Right."

Cristina made sure she knew how to get to his house from the hospital and from Meredith's before she had made her decision. She was waiting on his porch when he came home that night. She had told him she was working late, but she really had just wanted to surprise him. And there she sat with a 6 pack of his, which was becoming their, favorite beer, waiting for him to come home. He was surprised to see her when he turned the car into the driveway and his headlights shown on another car parked in the drive. He parked in front of the garage and joined her on the porch.  
"Does this mean you need a key?" he asked as he approached her on the front steps

"It might." she said with a smile as she twisted the top off a beer and handed it to him.  
"I'm glad you could find the place." he sat next to her, both of them looking out on the front yard.  
Cristina took a swig from her bottle. "I'm not going to change."  
"Wha? I don't expect you to."  
"It's just, when I moved in with Burke, hell my first morning in Burke's apartment I was 'keyed'."

"'keyed'?"  
"He put a key to his place in a mug next to the coffee maker, with a note."

"So?"

"So, he barely knew me. I'm a slob. My last apartment, the one before Callie and before Burke, I didn't do laundry or take out the trash regularly, or clean."  
Owen looked into her eyes, "I don't want you to change. I know we don't know everything about each other, but we have the rest of our lives to know that. This place is ours, not mine. I just thought it would be nice if we have our own space. And since you asked, and the house is mostly finished, it would be a good time to live in it. To get to know each other in a space we can all ours."  
"Let's put these in the fridge and break this house in the right way." She got up and grabbed the remainder of the six pack, leaving him on the steps watching her.  
"Are ya coming or am I going to have to break your bed by myself?"

Owen smirked. "I've been sleeping in it for months, it's kinda already broken in."

"So?" Cristina retorted. She laughed as Owen followed her inside, shutting the door behind him leaving the past out and opportunity for a life together in.


End file.
